annotations: anthology…

Below, you’ll find the menu and the wines we had at elBullí. Following the list of wines, you’ll find an annotated list of our dishes. To see all of the photos from this meal in one set, CLICK HERE. Otherwise, click on the course titles below to see the individual photos.

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ANNOTATIONS

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I was dreading these little boards of sugar cane, because the last time I had these, they were awfully sweet. But, I think that’s because last time they were soaked or doused with sweetened alcohol to affect a flambe. This time, I think it was just the natural sugarcane soaked in rum and then garnished with lime zest and mint leaf. Sugar cane and rum, a natural pairing, worked very well. A chewable mojito.

Identical to last time. I loved the fragrance of the apple – almost like apple blossoms – in the baguette. My only complaint is that this is a very delicate “sandwich” that is almost impossible to eat without it falling apart.

I’ve had these before elsewhere, most recently at Jose Andres’s Bazaar in Beverly Hills. I have to say, Adria’s version is superior to others I’ve had. He achieves a thinner alginate membrane and a better balance between the saltiness of the olive “juice” inside the sphere and the fruitiness of the olive oil.

This was repeated from my first meal: just as delicate and almost impossible to eat. It was so soft and airy, that the macaron could barely hold its own weight. Very strong Parmesan flavor – creamy, almost a bit too rich and strong for me.

I had heard from others that this was one of their least favorite dishes at elBulli. I didn’t think it was so bad – it just tasted like frozen blue cheese, creamy and cold. The coldness numbed the flavor slightly at first, so the funkiness of the cheese didn’t fully blossom in your mouth until it melted, chased by a spicy, fragrant wave of nutmeg. If nothing else, I found this to be a pretty great demonstration that cold dampens flavor, or, conversely, heat intensifies flavor.

This was a pressed piece of cotton candy in which was embedded wild flowers. Some of the flowers seemed pickled – tart and acidic – others were just grassy and floral. As sweet as it was, the effect was like a fresh, summery day – like walking through a field, verdant and fragrant. Or burying your face in a bedsheet that had been sun-dried. And at the end, a surprise – the numbing spice of Sichuan pepper, which laced the cloud.

I didn’t care for this course too much. It was basically thin panes of ice with tamari and little nubs of freshly grated wasabi. There was a textural conversation. Was he trying to dilute the tamari and wasabi with the water? I didn’t understand this one.

I didn’t really care for this course the first time. This time, I found the moving parts more distinguishable from each other. It was sweet umami, with a flash of acid and a crunchy texture. This time, I really liked it.

A tribute to the nearby town of Roses, this was a visually arresting plate of rose petals fanned out to make it look like a giant artichoke blossom. This dish was served to Karen Shields as a vegetarian alternative to the dish that we got at our meal in February. So, although I’ve seen this dish before, I didn’t taste it until this lunch. I can’t say I loved it. The rose petals were very silky, and mildly fragrant. The meat jus, however, I thought was an odd pairing.

I think this was basically hammy collagen – and perhaps some fat – sitting on a sweet, crisp, ginger chip. Texturally, a masterful juxtaposition. In the flavor department, I found it to be an exaggerated version of Japanese gingered pork, especially on the sweetness of the ginger chip.

Getting over the texture of diced fat is probably the biggest challenge this dish posed. I liked it – warm and curried (and ever-so slightly sweet), with an oyster froth on top. Beside the shell was an oyster leaf plant. The coupling was obvious and very smart.

This arrived in a styrofoam carton. The carton had been wrapped in a micro picture of Parmesan foam (the photographer needed to take white balance). The wrapper (photo) was removed, rolled, and given to us as souvenirs. The Parmesan frozen air was actually very light at the top. As you dug down, it got denser – more like ice cream or sorbet, slightly gritty, frozen. We were instructed to take a few bites of the Parmesan foam by itself. And then, we were to scatter a little packet of “muesli” over the Parmesan. The muesli contained dehydrated berries, grains and nuts. There was certainly a salty-sweet thing going on here. I really liked this course.

Incredibly rich – an intense infusion of ham, cheese, and probably (lots of) butter. Unmistakably carbonara. The “tagliatelle” were translucent “gel noodles” infused with a heady dose of smokey ham. I thought, at first, they’d taste like Parmesan. The cheese dotted the dish in the form of little cubes. No black pepper, if memory serves. I had something similar at l’Arnsbourg in 2005, which was, undoubtedly a derivative of this dish. It’s strange to experience the “original” long after a derivative.

These three translucent packets came with a bowl of clear “pine water” (it tasted just like a pine tree). We were told to dip the packets in the pine water briefly and eat them quickly. I think one of the packets contained pine nut oil with whole pine nuts, and the other two contained pine nut purees of some sort. There was a whole lot of pine flavor going on in this little set. One of the packets wasn’t very well constructed and started to leak into the pine water. I wasn’t alone – a few others at my table had leaky packets.

It arrived in the form of ice cream with a creamy sauce and some meaty jus drizzled, table-side. There was a gelatin of some sort underneath the ice cream – I wouldn’t be surprised if it were chicken jelly. At first, I though the creamy white sauce was coconut milk. But it was not. Together, the whole had an unmistakable chicken curry flavor, though there was a slight sweetness to it all.

This was magnificent. Some of the almonds were mimetic – a thin cocoa butter shell filled with almond puree. Others were real – blanched and boiled to have a tender crunch. To the side, a smoked wedge of fleshy apricot and a little compote to the side (if I’m not mistaken, it was meaty in nature). While Adam of A Life Worth Eating claims the liquid underneath was tomato broth, I don’t recall what it was. But I suspect he’s right. (He also claims that the fruit was a peach, but I’m almost positive it was apricot.)

This was repeated from my first meal. This South American fruit is a cross between a tomato and passionfruit – it’s pucker-tart and slightly sweet, with a fleshy structure pocketed by pulpy quadrants. The quadrants were hollowed out. Two of the quadrants were filled with a liquified version of taco – lime, onion, cilantro infused, magically, with the unmistakable flavor of masa. The other two quadrants were filled with clam juice with clam meat. These two quadrants were topped with thin ice chips. This was a punch of flavor, unmistakable in its identity and origin.

This was repeated from my first meal. This was a strange wrap. The wrapper was made from dehydrated corn. Inside was a wedge of creamy avocado, some grapefruit, and cilantro. I’m not sure what a “Oaxacan taco” tastes like, so I have a poor frame or reference here. But, I can’t say this dish made a huge impact on me. I thought it was interesting how the grapefruit managed to meld seamlessly with the other flavors. Adam of A Life Worth Eating, who practically has a second home in Mexico, said that it was his favorite course of the meal.

This was repeated from my first meal. As clever and delicious as ever – a tuft of gazpacho snow (made from distilled tomato water) ringed by creamy ajo blanco. Olive oil was drizzled over it all at the table, which kind of reminded me of peeing in snow. Sorry.

This was one of the most gripping, flavorful, and lusty dishes of the forty-four. Lobster meat came on a thick tranche of pork belly, fatty and completely melting. The sauce was beefy, gingery, with a touch of sesame and perhaps some scallions. Very stir-fry, very rich, very Chinese.

This was repeated from my first meal. This time, it tasted much more like a cappucino than the first time, with a distinctly bitter, chocolatey depth, yet creamy, with a frothy top. Yet, what was disturbing and wonderful at the same is that it was essentially a meat stew.

For some reason, the plate of ravioli seemed more well-made, more tight this time. The components seemed more distinct – both the flavors and textures. I thought the ravioli dish tasted more like a proper “Bolognese” this time. The “hare blood” tasted much more like beet juice – clean, but sweet – than before. The “hare bood” was a touch syrupy, which makes me wonder if they had thickened it with glucose, or simple syrup? I’m sure the answer is somewhere in one of Adria’s many books, none of which I have.

These were thin slices of mango, I think, on top of cold, airy dumplings almost identical in texture and form to the apple baguette served to us at the beginning of the meal – some kind of liquid nitrogen magic going on. Nothing ground-breaking – just tasted like tart fruit on a cold, airy “bun.”

The blini was like a fluffy pancake with a slightly crisped, golden-brown surface. It was entirely comforting, drizzled with fragrant orange blossom honey, and hiding a pocket of tangy yogurt within. Absolutely delicious.

This was repeated from my first meal, although this time, I noticed that there was no sugar added whatsoever. I loved it – bitter, dark, dark chocolate, and incredibly fragrant from the coconut. The couverture had a wonderful snap.

This “frozen sake” was soft enough so that you could scoop it out – like a dense sorbet. What I loved about it, especially, was the fragrance of the sake, a mild, mellow sweetness. And then, coupled with mimetic raspberries – sweet-tart – and then crunchy, toasty, and sweet black sesame “clusters;” this was a great, great dish.